Shelf Township Records: Bastardy

A child born to unmarried parents was considered by law to be illegitimate, a "bastard". This list is derived from a bundle of documents which was generated in trying to determine the name of an illegitimate child's father and ensuring that the child and mother was provided for by the father.

Illegitimacy and bastardy cases produced a range of documents, including Bastardy Examinations, Bastardy Warrants and Summons, Bastardy Orders, Maintenance Orders and the Bastardy Bonds. Documents of all these types are represented in the Shelf Bastardy papers, but some cases generated more papers than others, and some of the cases are represented by only one document. The documents range in date from 1726 to 1825.

These documents would have been carefully kept by the Overseers of the Poor of Shelf, but they are a rare survival. The papers are now deposited at the Calderdale office of the West Yorkshire Archive Service, under the reference MISC:347/3. If you believe your ancestors are on the list, we strongly suggest you to view the original documents.

We have included the parent's names and townships. Sometimes the parents township would be where they were considered to have their 'legal settlement' rather than where they were actually living, in accordance with the 'Settlement Act' of 1662. The date refers to the year of the case, and where given we have indicated the sex and age of the illegitimate child.